Cosby Sex Assault Trial Brings Spectacle to Montogomery County

Bill Cosby went on trial Monday on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman more than a decade ago, with prosecutors immediately introducing evidence the 79-year-old TV star once known as America's Dad had done it before to someone else.

The prosecution's opening witness was not the person Cosby is charged with abusing, but another woman, who broke down in tears as she testified that the comedian violated her in the mid-1990s at a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles.

Cosby is on trial on charges he assaulted Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University's basketball program, at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. His good-guy reputation already in ruins, he could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Kristen Feden noted that the "Cosby Show" star previously admitted under oath that he gave Constand pills and touched her genitals as she lay on his couch.

Defense Attorney Speaks on Bill Cosby Trial

Defense attorney Enrique Latoison explains how the appearance of "The Cosby Show" actress Keshia Knight-Pulliam in court Monday can affect the jury in the Bill Cosby sex assault trial.

Comic legend Bill Cosby is in court Monday in suburban Philadelphia on allegations he sexually assaulted a former employee of Temple University's basketball program in 2004.

(Published Monday, June 5, 2017)

Cosby attorney Brian McMonagle countered by attacking what he said were inconsistencies in Constand's story, disputed that Constand was incapacitated and made the case that she and Cosby had a romantic relationship.

He said Constand initially told police that she and Cosby did not speak after their 2004 encounter, when, in fact, phone records show the two talked 72 times, with 53 of those calls initiated by Constand.

Constand, 44, of the Toronto area, is expected to take the stand this week and tell her story in public for the first time.

The trial's first witness was Kelly Johnson of Atlanta, who worked for one of Cosby's agents at the William Morris Agency. She described an encounter she said took place in 1996 at the Hotel Bel-Air when she was in her mid-30s.

Prosecutors are trying to show Cosby's treatment of Constand fit a pattern of predatory behavior.

They had wanted to call as many as 13 women who say Cosby sexually assaulted them, out of more than 60 accusers in all. But Judge Steven O'Neill, in a victory for Cosby, said the jury could hear only from Constand and Johnson.

Cosby's lawyer argued that Johnson was seeking a payout from the TV star.

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McMonagle said Johnson mixed up the years and other details of her encounters with Cosby, and he grilled her about why she never said anything when she left William Morris. She came forward in 2015 at a news conference with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred.

"I felt embarrassed because I had a secret about the biggest celebrity in the world at the time and it was just me, just my word against his, and I was very afraid," Johnson said.

Cosby's wife, Camille, was not in court. But actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter Rudy on "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s and '90s, was at his side as he made his way into the building. She told reporters she was there to support her TV dad.

"I want to be the person that I would like to have if the tables were turned," she said. "Right now it's the jury's job and the jury's decision to determine guilt or innocence. It's not mine or anyone else's."

Cosby built a wholesome reputation as a father and family man, on screen and off, during his extraordinary 50-year career in entertainment. He created TV characters, most notably Dr. Cliff Huxtable, with crossover appeal among blacks and whites alike. His TV shows, movies and comedy tours earned him an estimated $400 million.

Then a deposition unsealed in 2015 in a lawsuit brought by Constand revealed that Cosby had a long history of extramarital liaisons with young women and that he obtained quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women before sex. Dozens of women soon came forward to say he had drugged and assaulted them.

Feden, the prosecutor, warned the jury not to fall into the trap of confusing celebrities with the characters they play.

"We think we really know them," she said. "In reality, we only have a glimpse of who they really are."

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Cosby's lawyers tried repeatedly to get the case thrown out, arguing that a previous district attorney promised him he would never be charged, and that witnesses have died, memories have faded and the comedian is all but blind.

Allred, who showed up for the first day of the trial, told reporters she is hopeful "there will be justice in this case."

Allred represents several of Cosby's accusers, including a woman who worked for the comedian's agent at the William Morris agency. She will be the only other accuser allowed to testify for the prosecution.

"I'm not going to predict what the outcome is," Allred said. "We'll see what the evidence is. But this case is not going to be decided on optics, it's going to be decided on the evidence, and finally, it's Mr. Cosby who's going to have to face that evidence and confront the accusers who are against him."

"We've had an O.J. hangover for many years," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. "What you worry about as the judge is that the lawyers don't showboat, the evidence gets presented fairly, and that you have a jury that does its job and is not being thrown into the whole milieu of the trial outside the courtroom."

Constand filed a police complaint in 2005 over the night a year earlier, when, she says, Cosby drugged her and put his hand down her pants.

The district attorney at the time said the case was too weak to prosecute. But a new set of prosecutors charged Cosby a year and a half ago after the deposition became public and numerous women came forward.

In one of the more explosive disclosures in the deposition, Cosby said he had obtained quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women before sex.

Cosby's lawyers have said that the encounter with Constand was consensual, and they tried repeatedly to get the case thrown out. They said Cosby testified in the lawsuit only after being promised he could never be charged.

And they argued that the delayed prosecution makes the case impossible to defend, given that witnesses have died, memories have faded and Cosby, they say, is blind.

The AP and NBC10 do not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.